Monday, October 4, 2010

The Last Supper

Well, this is it. The last supper for my tribes for the season. I hope that the majority of you have enjoyed the fare throughout the tours! I definitely have enjoyed (almost all the time) cooking for you. It is such a pleasure to be able to share good food!

The last day was marvelous. The tribe peddled out to the coast and spent the day rolling up and down along the beaches. Lots of ups! The weather was mild and the scenery breathtaking. Many places along the way to stop and explore, as most everyone did.

The bakery just outside of the Casini Ranch in Duncan Mills is unexpectedly good. Fresh baked pastries featuring flaky, buttery crusts, thin pizzas with heirloom tomatoes and homemade pesto, good coffee and the best cinnamon rolls we have ever tasted. On through Bodega Bay and into Tomales for another bakery to die for! When we stopped there was a club from Santa Rose with about 25 cyclists as well as a BMW motorcycle club with about 50 riders. Popular spot! After Tomales there are the oyster farms to top the pastries off with shooters. Yummmm.Next stop: Point Reyes Station for the Cowgirl Creamery, Bovine Bakery, and General Store. All offering delicious noshes to fuel the tribe into the camp ground. With all of the stops along the way I don't see how they could be hungry tonight!

But, they were! We started the appetizer hour with three choice wheels of cheeses from the Marin County Cheese Company; a hand made blue, Marin French Blue, a cows milk double cream cheese lace with streaks of blue; the Yellow Buck Camembert; as well the amazing soft goat chevre. I understand the some Costco's carry these cheeses during the holidays, as well as most fine cheese shops. The cheeses from the Cow Girl Creamery are pretty darn good as well. We treated ourselves to a wedge of Humboldt Fog Blue Cheese for an afternoon snack. YUMMM!

The tribe finished up the evening with a map meeting and awards ceremony. Our great Chief Kevin presented some pretty funny awards! (Sarah: I really think I learned a lot about how to dress fashionably as a cyclist! Some new looks that I must try out.) Kevin did a fabulous job running his first tour. He had a great support staff with Joe as mechanic, Sue as marker supreme, Jerry and Tina on lunch and water stops, and Keith on luggage. A good job done by all.

We had a long night before the last breakfast and a long drive home. We knew that there is a quite large raccoon population at this camp and planned accordingly, or so we thought. Mr. Raccoon really loved the dark chocolate bar that was in Jack's luggage. He also was inclined to open every cooler in the park, including the beer. He managed to rifle through just about every one's luggage and bike packs that were left outside. He was kind enough to leave a granola bar at Joe's doorstep: must of thought I wasn't feeding Joe quite enough this week. (Joe is about 7 feet tall and thin as a rail and I keep trying to fill him up on these tours, but it doesn't seem to happen!) Mr. Raccoon was kind enough to keep us up from about 2am. He was bold enough to come up behind me and steal a loaf of bread as I was making sandwiches! Quite a sight to see, Jack chasing the raccoon with the hose.

The morning was a race to get everyone fed and on the road. Us as well; we have an 18 hour drive straight home. I am sad to see everyone go....can't wait until next season I hope to see many of the tribe again next year if you'll let me cook for you. I promise to use only real butter & peanut butter with no hydrogenated vegetable oil, I will give in and use real maple syrup, I promise to provide a wider variety of snacks at the water stop, and will gladly serve 1/2 and 1/2 with your coffee. And, I will try to be nice. Most of the time. Till next year!

Your food was terrific. Each night so different and so good. Your blog is amazing. My friends ask me about the tour and I tell them to read your blog for a great description of the ride, the places and the unbelievable food. Thanks for all your efforts and Jack's with our Farm Fresh tribe.

About Me

I cook for Adventure Cycling tours: 6 this year. That puts me about 50 days living in a tent! I have 3 young men (can't call them boys anymore), my husband Jack, 2 dogs;Pumpkin Patch & Scamp:(who lives with my mom) one bird, two guinea pigs, and one obnoxious cat.